014 4 I really don't understand what made my fellow review-writers give Manga Mania five , four , or even three stars . I would advise against buying it because 1 ) the style is very Americanized , 2 ) The computer colored pictures are terrible , and 3 ) Chris Hart needs to study manga storylines more .
While there is a lot of variation on art style in manga , there is a limit to how much you can warp it . Most of the artists of Manga Mania seem to think that the only differences between American and Japanese comic art are big eyes , curvy face shapes , and spiky hair . This assumption is completely wrong ! Yes , many , many manga and anime series do sport giant bubbly eyes , spiky , strangely colored hair , and round faces ( Saber Marionette J to X ) , but that's not all there is to it . Styles can range from very realistic to incredibly cartoonish . Not all eyes are big , not all characters are beautiful , and not all hair is spiky .
When coloring pictures for manga , artists have usually used watercolor , copic marker or colored ink . All of the color illustrations in Manga Mania are done on the computer . Many of today's popular manga artists , like Yazawa Ai and Tamura Yumi have started using computer coloring programs to draw and color pictures , and even add screen tone , but the majority still use the traditional media previously mentioned . I'm not against computer coloring for manga ( I use it myself ) , but if the images are going to be CG , I think the artists should look a little ( okay , a lot ) more into manga-style CG .
The thing that bugged me most about Manga Mania was not the ugly CG , or even the Americanized drawings . It was the narration and the subjects covered . For example , when Chris Hart is talking about shoujo ( girls ' manga ) storylines , he says that shoujo manga is ( and I quote ) , filled with innocence and grace , mischief and silliness . . . They're ( the characters ) regular kids having a good time . Oh my . This is definitely not an accurate description of the shoujo genre . Take Yuki Kaori's Angel Sanctuary , a wonderful early nineties manga that fills twenty plot-intensive volumes . It's anything but silly or innocent . For starters , the main character is romantically in love with his sister . The plot is complicated and requires constant thinking . There are dozens of well thought out , serious characters , not to mention lots of gore . Angel Sanctuary is a dark , gothic , and serious manga that , while sometimes depressing , is incredible . . .
001 4 Well , actually I got it as a present during the summer vacations from my aunt so I feel pretty bad critizing it though it wasn't anime .
Before I begin on the good side I think I should start on the flaws . The noses were pathetic ! They were totally not Japanesse ( though if it had been for western comics I guess it wouldn't fit there either ) . The eyes were excellent though they were the hardest bit and were hardly explained at all . The colored pictures looked too Western ( though they were very pretty to go through if you aren't learning how to draw Anime / Manga ) and the shading and hands and feet were hardly explained when the bits that need to be explained to most as they are usually the weakness for most artisits .
Apart from these flaws it was quite allright . The panneling and elven bits were exceptionally good and the interview at the end was more than helpful . But then again you can get all these from the net tutorials . . . . which , if you were seriously going pro , you would've probably gone through .
The book lacked Japanesse Drawing though it was pretty good ( if you just wanted to draw ) .
002 4 I don't think I would buy Manga Mania again . While Christopher Hart has hired some talented artists to draw this book for him , most of them look like they have drawn in the style of american comics all their lives . It's like a book on basketball written by a rookie who has great potential , but has never really played as a pro . There's work from ten artists in this book , with Christopher Hart narrating . Only one of these artists ( Svetlana Chmakova ) seems to know what the manga art style is really like . As for the rest of the artists , it's like they said to themselves , I think I'll draw manga today ! and applied for the job . Even if you have drawn american comics for years , you can't just jump into manga art and become a pro .
Topics in this book include an introduction ( in which the pronunciation of the word , anime is written incorrectly ) , manga basics , action poses , The bad boys of manga , manga genres , manga's fantasy realm , drop-dead-gorgeous manga babes , awesome robots and other cool stuff , designing dynamic scenes , common japanese terms ( why is this in here ? ) , So you wanna be a cartoonist ? , the inside view ( a nice interview with Viz man , Bill Flanagan ) , and an index .
Although the books by real manga-ka and manga-ka groups ( like K's art , Hikaru Hayashi , the society for the study of manga techniques , and Kenkyukai Manga Gihou ) are a little more expensive , I would definitley choose book by japanese pros over this .
003 4 As many people know , both anime and manga are gaining an increasingly stronger and broader fan base in America . With this increase have come How-To-Draw books and the like . Chris Hart brings a Western to manga . Yes , there are books by Japanese artists out there , but I think that Western take should be given just as much respect . Hart did an excellent job in the chapter on fantasy which included tips on shadowing and drawing folds in clothing . Also , he gave some extra attention to drawing males . I know there are books on drawing bishoujo ( pretty girls ) , but where are the books on bishonen ( attractive guys ) then ? I found this book to be helpful and would reconmend it to beginning and intermediate manga artists .
004 4 I'm not a huge Manga fan , but I am an Anime fan . ( There is a difference ) The only reason I bought this book is because it's the only one I can get like it in my area . If you read the back it gives a miss leading idea about what the book is about . It has NOTHING in it on how to draw Manga . Just gives you vague ideas and references . It really does speak to you like you already know what your doing ( I'm very green , nuff said ) . I would only recommend it for someone who is already skilled at drawing and knows what their doing . Other wise , avoid this book at all costs . There are much better books on this topic out there . Besides , his style is to American to look Manga . And that's pretty sad .
005 4 This book is ok for someone who just watches Yu-ge-ou and wants to doodle on his notebook but not for anyone who really wants to draw . Its flat coloring also takes away depth from the pictures and makes it look like a cheap cartoon . Not recomended for anyone who really wants to learn the true elements of anime / manga .
006 4 I strongly advise you to stay away from this book , the art is ugly , the artists draw like bad fan artists , when the art is in color , the ones that are used are ugly , and the art doesnt have any depth , and this book is stereotypical . These people don't understand what is manga . Manga is just comic books , but with a different pace and narration rythm , it is not about big eyed characters , having lived in Japan , I used to read comics for girls when I was in school , some of the magazines for teenage girls can have quite realistic styles , it depends .
007 4 Honestly , this is probably the best book on manga drawing technique published in the West for a variety of reasons : a ) it's concise and to the point ; b ) it showcases DIFFERENT styles of manga art by some VERY good Western artists ; and c ) it manages to do all this in one book . . . If you listen to the Hart-bashers , you'll be spending well over $200 in books ( I think there was something like 7 , 8 , or 9 How to Draw Manga books translated into English at last count when I checked ) and probably won't be getting full coverage of the basics .
Is the book perfect ? Of course not - - no book is ! There are admittedly some low-res pics in it at the front of the book ( NOT because of the lack of Adobe Streamline , but because someone at the book publisher DIDN'T scan in some artwork at a high enough res ) and some of the artists aren't as good as others . Most of the pencil art ( which tells you more than the finished art at any art ) is reproduced well and shows off the caring attention put into the art .
For a relatively low price , you ARE getting coverage of a lot of the basics and good explanations on WHY things are drawn in certain ways . The same cannot be said for many other artbooks published today - - including the How to Draw Manga books . This book is a fairly good place to start for cartooning in a Japanese style .
008 4 Okay . . . I am by no means a professional artist or mangaka , though I wish I were . I do , however , have a few years experience of drawing manga - and anime-style drawings . And I also own ( somewhere . . ) a couple Christopher Hart books . How to draw comic book dogs and . . . animals , I think . . . ^ ^ ; ; I forget . I loaned them out . Anyway , that is not the point of this post .
I'm not going to insult Mr . Hart for being an American cartoonist attempting to instruct on manga . That's a bold move . Sadly . . . he did not achieve his goal . I do not own this book . I have looked at it many , many times in bookstores debating whether to buy it or not . I always choose not to . Why ? It is , as many other reviewers , have pointed out , Americanized . The How To Draw Manga series is a much better choice . And for those of you whom it is unavailable to , go to the website . The books , and MUCH more , are there .
Why , you may ask , do I refuse to buy this book ? Besides its Americanization , I feel that it does not properly instruct in manga style . I learned more about drawing in the manga style from the internet and copying my Sailor Moon artbook . The faces in this book lean more toward action comic books than true manga . And the coloring is just horrible . Well . . . not really horrible , but it isn't manga-ish at all .
My recommnedation : if you can't afford the HTDM series . . . surf the net .
009 4 This is silly . You can hardly trust an american to teach you the skills needed to draw anime / manga . What a waste of money , even the cover art is sloppy and basic . You could get a lot more out of just surfing the net for untranslated manga and using that as a guide , it'd make a considerable improvement . Just go and compaire whats in this book to the artwork of Kaori Yuki-sama ! * . * . . . Well , I guess there is a bit of a bright side to buying a book like this , it can teach you the basics of body construction and proportions . That's prettymuch all I've gotten from mine . XP Contrary to the popular belief of american anime people , theres so much more to anime than the stereotypical big eyes , mechas , and big-breasted-bishoujo . ( though those ARE constant factors in many : P ) But I guess it IS your choice after all . . . I'm just a simple reviewer sharing my input . ; P
010 4 Skip this book . It's not real anime or manga for that matter . It's very western . Even then , most of the pictures aren't his own artwork . I've even checked out his drawing American comics and it was very bad . . . . save your cash . . . .
I would check out
Manga Techniques 1 & 2 ( for non-ecchi people )
How to Draw Manga ( Ecchi people )
012 4 Two years ago I bought his ' How to Draw Japanese Animation book and it was pretty well-made for me as I was an amateur at anime and manga styles .
So I was slightly hoping that this one would rival his other book .
I . Was . Wrong .
When I bought it , the art looked like that of a western animation , unworthy of any soon-to-be mangaka's collection of ' How to draw ' books . If you'd take a look at the cover . . . I can draw ten times times better than that without looking at any sources for help . Hart has a lively sense of humor in his guides , but the art is lacking in volume and depth .
013 4 It's amazing how this guy , who has very little experience drawing comics ( let alone manga ) professionally , has managed to make a lucrative career out of writing how to books on cartooning . As many reviewers have noted , Hart draws very poorly . In fact , one gets the impression that he is not even trying . He just dumps another book on the market and waits for the royalties to roll in . By shamelessly jumping on the manga bandwagon , though , he has bitten off far more than he can chew . I personally know dozens of amateur Japanese artists who draw far better than Hart , but who would never presume to write a how to book . This is what in Japanese would be called kodomo damashi , which means something only a child could be fooled by . And judging by the reviews , it seems it is indeed mostly children who have been fooled into buying this and Hart's other books .
016 4 This was the first book on drawing manga that I ever bought . All I had seen before hand was watching anime on tv , so I already knew the basic look for eyes and such . I have to say that it was a huge help in my manga drawing journey . It teaches the basics like how to draw the eyes and different types of figures , as well as great backgrounds for your characters . I love it !
017 4 I've been waiting , and waiting , and waiting for the past week and a half for this book , Manga Mania by Chris Hart , and I was absolutely enthralled when I received the box in the mail today . The box wasn't in the best shape , but the book was fine - and after reading through it , I decided it was more than fine - it was one of the best drawing books I've seen in a while . I've never liked drawing books that show , step by step , how to draw a certain thing . . . drawing like that is barely a step above tracing . This book isn't like that - this book is more for inspirational purposes . It does show wire frames of people to get the basic gist of things , but doesn't make you copy the drawing step by step , you're allowed to implement your own style . People who have never tried drawing manga before , or people that simply haven't had much drawing experience may want to try another book before this one . . . it's more of an intermidiate level book than it is an instructional book for begginers . But if you have had even a little practice with manga , and just need to perfect your technique , you're in luck . I've only had the book for one day and I've already had tremendous success with some practice sketches . Finally my characters ' bodies are in proportion , finally I have people looking more professional and clean . I'm really enjoying this book , and for those who have some experience with manga already , I highly suggest it .
018 4 This review may be somwhat bias since i am an artist and a fan of manga , but then this is probably the audience that the author was aiming for . The book talks about different techniques that can be used to draw and illustarte manga characters and comics . Things like believable clothing , communicating a characters persona through suttle details ( such as the infamous giant eyes of manga ) and he explains it all with step by step figure drawings and subtext . In addition to this , there is also a section in the book that talks about the different jobs one can get in the field of cartooning and how to integrate yourself into the industry . I highly recommend this book for any serious comic artist whether your into manga or not .
019 4 Christopher Hart cannot spell anime and his definition of art is poor . This guy doesn't know what he is doing . His anime is bootleg - its not the real deal . Its very poor quality and the style is very americanized and horribly weak . If it were possible , I'd take all publishing rights and access away from Hart . His books should not be sold . If you want a real anime instruction book , stick to the ones penned by Japanese artists who really know what they are talking about . By giving 1 star I am only acknowledging the people who actually had to spend their time putting this joke together . I'm sorry but if possible I would give a negative valued star rating . Straight up , buying this book is equivalent to taking 30 dollars and burning it in a small bonfire . Not impressed .
020 4 This book helped me out with dynamic postures and positions along with some fantasy and the main idea of manga.If you're a beginner , this is a good book for you . More advanced artists wouldn't need this book though . Overall , it's a great book . Much better than those anatomy books from the Society for the Study of manga techniques . Christopher Hart is a great author to get drawing books from . If I were a person without one , I'd take it !
023 4 I just wasn't all that impressed with this book . Some of the art clearly showed ( as others have said ) american influence , and the only chapter I truly enjoyed was the fantasy chapter . I would suggest for any hopeful manga or anime fans to check out some tutorials online and then buying some of the books written by the people who know anime .
Another thing that bothered me was the comic sections , some of the drawings were just terrible . People who buy this book may get into bad habits .
024 4 I bought this book at the beginning of my interest in manga , and the only help it gave me was the Japenese phrases at the back . I keep the book around for that reason , but not much else . If you're a budding manga artist , or on more advanced level , I highly recommend the How to Draw Manga line of books instead of this one . The How to Draw Manga series covers a wide spread of manga topics , from starting basics to advanced pen and tone techniques . They even have books dealing specifically with shojo and shonen art ! ( I have already pre-ordered the Costume Encyclopedia that comes out in Feb . 2003 ! ) Mr . Hart's work is good if you want a reference for WESTERN cartooning , but not for manga and animé .
025 4 This book is good , but FAR from the best ! When I got this , it seemed like a really good helpful book ! Nothing really was too helpful though . Then I got some How to Draw Manga books ( techniques for drawing female characters , male characters , and a few others ) and I was blown away ! This book is good , but if you really want to draw better , get some How to Draw Manga books !
026 4 I am a huge fan of christopher hart ; i have most of his books ! The other books in the manga mania series are awesome ! but this book was really bad the art was horrible except for maybe 5 pictures.I did not like the book and i regret buying it . . . So if you want a good manga book get another book by him like shoujo mania .
Manga Mania Shoujo : How to Draw the Charming and Romantic Characters of Japanese Comics ( Manga Mania )
027 4 This book is not exactly wonderful . Something worth a trip to the library . It is great for us who see very little western How-to books and though not completly manga-tized have put one foot in the domain ( like me ) . That or for Manga starters .
What I did with this book was simply : do all the drawing with quick sketches . Of course , if you do a million sketches of any , you'll get better . This just gave you some ideas .
I dislike his ( Hart's ) heavy stereotyping , three times over . But hey , it will help when your developing a character to know what shy people do to express themselves with their bodies .
I think you should go to your local library , pick it up , and maybe copy a page or two out . If you find yourself constantly going back for more pages , buy it .
028 4 I own this book , and am beginning to wish I don't . I thought it was neat at first , but it really doesn't go into technique that much . Oh sure , it demonstrates how to draw the eyes and a couple of other things , but otherwise I didn't find anything all that useful .
Now , my preference is the books from the How-To-Draw-Manga series . . . n_n
029 4 I find the bad boys section to be rather lacking . All the guys look comic bookish , and they don't have a picture that looks like Hiiro Yui ! The drop dead gourgeous babe section is rather . . odd . For example , my when my friend looked at the teenage valley girl pic , he was like , is that a man ? The elf section is terrific , but it is only a few pages long . Not enough about shading , you might like it if your a shounen anime type person though . I recommend other manga books if you want your manga art work to be less american , and have better noses .
030 4 I have a sence for anime and this is my second favorite . It has good discriptions and has awesome pictures . In weeks you will fluently know Anime . Also my cousin thinks it is the BEST anime book in the world , but that is him . I would give it a 5 star book but it kind of confused me in some places so it gets a 4 . But this book gave me the chance to find my dream , the dream to be an animation artist ! !
031 4 As another reviewer mentioned , Christopher Hart's anime how-to books would be best for people who are very new to drawing or are in the age 8 - 13 range . Anyone who has had some experience drawing anime , however , needs something more advanced . The art is okay , but not as good as many of the amateur manga artists that I know , and the lines seem to have a pixely quality , like they were done on Microsoft Paint . There are some good examples to copy from , and some figure building techniques . But Hart's manga style looks too much like Digimon and his character examples are kind of clichéd ( Pink-haired J-Pop girl , Deedlit-ish elf girl , boy with robot pal , etc . ) I would recommend the Japanese How To Draw Manga books over this one for a more in-depth learning experience .
032 4 Well , this book was of upmost use . My ' manga ' drawing skills are a complete wreck , but now that I have this thingy , I've gotten considerably better . Many people expect this to be an step-step how to draw book , but guess what ? No book is .
What I found very useful was that he used many styles of different manga . And what was most useful was that he teaches you how to make up your own style in drawing , which in my opinion , is what drawing is all about .
This was definately worth it .
033 4 I've thumbed through this book at a local bookstore . I am very glad I didn't make the mistake of buying this online .
Look at the cover art , and browse through the images here on Amazon - the art is VERY poor . Why would someone want to learn to draw from such weak examples ? The faces don't even have proper proportions ! That is BASIC knowledge !
I seriously feel sorry for anyone who bought this book and thought the art was actually nice . Go for the How to Draw Manga series - THOSE are very well done , usually .
034 4 very good , highly recommended . The pictures are pretty good and show the different spectrum of anime . The styles range from the more innocent manga forms in Metropolis , to the more serious look found in Ninja Scroll , to the fantasy and robotic style of Mega Man X . This book won't show you everything in order to draw flawless pictures , even though it does give good examples when provided . You'll probably like this book more if you know how to draw already , or something to that extent . If you wanna learn to draw first , I suggest Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain . If you know how to draw somewhat , this book is a great way to SHOW you how to draw manga really well . It also gives tons of creative ideas that never would have crossed my mind unless i read them here . Its really good to spark creativity . Enjoy . I know I will .
035 4 I've been looking for a good manga book for a while , having an obsession with anime , manga , and the like . After searching in vain for Ozawa Tadashi's books , I gave up , and wandering around NYC one day , I came up on this book . I had looked at it on Amazon before , and was less than excited by the reviews , so had eliminated it from my prospectives list . But when I looked through it , I found it to be much better than I had thought-totally awesome ! Some of the other reviews stated the drawings were less than good , but this is probably because a few of the pages had a low resolution . It has alot of variety , introducing one to many styles . It has awesome sections about fantasy , Elves ( my favorite section ) , clothing , and even dragons . It illustrates the difference between Western comics and manga , and includes a few Japanese sayings in the back . Overall , I really liked it .
036 4 Good book . I actually learned alot , but it's a little to advanced . It doesn't really teach you How to it just shows you more techniques , assuming you already have the skills . Rent it from the library or something , but even though it's informative and you can learn from it , you might want to INVEST in something a little more step-by-step .
037 4 I bought this book , mainly because it seemed to be the only manga book at the Chapters I went to . . . anyhoo , let's get down right to the point - - this book is ok , even great , if you are NOT particularly looking for the Japanese manga , but if you ARE looking for that Japanese style , it's . . . well , somehow , it has too much western style to it . I'm not really sure how that happened ( especially the colors ! whoever painted it totally ruined the Japanese-manga-eyes and the style ) , but it's more of a how to try to draw Japanese manga for western people .
In conclusion , if you're an expert at Japanese manga / anime and wants to learn more about it , I definitely wouldn't recommend this book . However , if you're just a beginner who's from western country or have no idea what Japanese anime is , then this book may be a good way to start off .
038 4 If you are at all interested in drawing Manga , this is absolutly the book to have . It shows examples from all different genres .
Though it would be frustrating for some one who is just starting out drawing because it does not illustrate step by step instructions . With that said , I believe that if you've already got the hang of drawing simple figures than this is the book for you !
039 4 This book is really good for beginners . It's a great help if you plan on doing fantasy manga or robot manga drawings . I got this book from the library and I enjoyed it . So now I am buying it . I would recomend buying this book . If you are under the age of 10 , some pictures may be not be for there age group . But otherwise , a really great book !
040 4 I found the book very helpful for drawing anime style cartoon characters . I'm making an anime parody ! This book is helpful on how to draw a manga character's head from many angles ! To be honest even though I know what authentic manga is supposed to look like I find the style in this book to be just as appealing as art drawn by professional manga artists in japan I guess the fact that it doesn't look authentic is what gives this book it's charm if you ask me . I do feel it's lacking in instruction but I learned a lot from this book how to draw the head from various angles and how to draw manga eyes was very helpful indeed . I only recommend this book for more experienced artists .
041 4 I bought Manga Mania for my 12 - year-old niece for Christmas as she's getting into Japanese cartoons ( she's started watching Robotech ! ) . I decided to thumb through this title before wrapping it up and was disturbed by chapter 7 , Drop-Dead-Gorgeous Manga Babes .
Hart's publishers state it's appropriate for 5th graders ( 10 - year-olds ) and up but I decided not to give my niece this book based on this chapter . The females are scantily clad and the descriptions that accompany them are explicit ( e.g . Her bathing suit is a great costume because it's skin tight and wet ) . I know this is a part of the genre but I think the content is too suggestive for young teens .
I ultimately went for Hart's other title , Anime Mania which did a good job of describing illustration and character development without focusing so much on sexiness .
042 4 When I borrowed this book from my library and looked through it with a friend , I found the pencil sketches for the hair and eyes pretty skilled . The comic panels were shown pretty well , too . Also , it was rather enjoyable to read the part at the end with the interview ( Those images from VIZ were a real treat ! ) . Many of the pencil images , such as the samurai , martial artists , and elves were done quite impressively .
However , we both agreed that the color pictures were , for the most part , just not manga . The book gave a whole section on a bunch of dynamic poses for characters to have the most depth , but they weren't very well explained and the color images were a bit coarse . Also , I didn't like the way the girls ' waistline was too exaggerated at several areas .
This book is better for people who are used to drawing Western comics and want to blend in some Japanese characteristics . ( I believe that the author also has guides for Western comic drawing . ) It offers some basic guidelines for faces and bodies , but doesn't go into creating characters . Instead , there are a bunch of characters done in color that the reader can imitate .
In general , this is probably a book that you'll like to flip through every now and then for the pretty pictures and very basic reference , but not much else , once you've read through it . Still , it's worth reading for a taste of what art can look like if you mix Eastern and a little but of Western comic styles . However , if you're after a guide to really show you how to apply various techniques in manga , you're probably better off reading the How to Draw Manga series , which is much more specialized and is more similar to actual Japanese manga .
043 4 This book feels like it's for already-successful , American-style comic artists , so that they can learn to morph their styles , manga-like , and produce pseudo-manga .
I enjoyed this book as a quick look-through-and-read-the-interesting-sections . And there are lots of interesting sections . But , if you want to learn how to draw as a beginner ( not already experienced in drawing ) , this is not for you .
This is a good introduction to some of the stereotypes , normal assumtions of manga , and face - and body-structures .
The eye sections are very good .
The fight-stuff is very good .
The villain and anti-heros sections are very good .
And the interview with Bill Flanagan of Viz is fascinating - - especially his breakdown of why people like manga vs . American comic books .
There are also sections on elves , children , fuzzy sidekicks , giant robots , points-of-view , panels , and manga babes .
> makes face
Okay . Anyway , it's a good introduction to pseudo-manga , and an interesting take on many of the concepts manga is based on . Don't try to copy the style too exactly , and you'll be O.K .
Look through it in Borders if you get the chance , to see if you want to buy it .
044 4 I believe this book is a very good book for beginning anime / manga drawers . It touches on many basics , though doesn't go into them too deeply . It aslo includes a section on how to draw elven character , shojo style , and talks about the ways to make your drawings more dynamic . I don't think it would be much help to experienced drawers , however , since it really would only show you the things you already know . As i said , for beginners this will be a good introduction , after that i recomend the How to Draw Anime series .
~ Lupus
045 4 My son is a talented artist whose passion is cartooning . As he is a fan of Japanese comics , I bought this book for him for Christmas . He tells me this is the best book that he has ever gotten . He lent the book to his art teacher who is also a fan ! She says that it is one of the best books she has ever seen on this subject matter . Bravo to Christopher Hart .
046 4 I am an amateur artist who is always looking to improve his technique . This book proved incredibly helpful to me in drawing Manga . Although I love the art form for my personal enjoyment , I tended to shy away from drawing Manga . The perspective that Christopher Hart has on Manga and cartooning in general is incredible ! This will no doubt help any artist at any level become a much better artist .
047 4 This book was and is an excellent helper for my teen aged kids . They absolutely love the characters and the simple way of creating them as described in this book . It may seem a bit advanced for younger kids but can be enjoyed by any Japanese manga lover . The book describes many details that are needed for the complete anime ; from simple body parts to the more complex moves to the full scene of body and objects . Great gift for anyone who likes Manga art .
048 4 Very good book . It shows good examples and gives you enough info so that you feel comfortable creating your own characters . Very informative and fun to look at again and again !
049 4 This book is okay , could've been better but for the price I think it covered a wide variety of subjects . I'm a noob to the anime scene and this book helped a little , esp . in giving little hints . Now I know how to draw those cute kids I always had so much dang trouble with . Not for professionals , but then again , with a title like ' Manga Mania ' , do you honestly expect it to be ?
050 4 I kind of wonder who this book was written for . Inexperienced artists seem to get frustrated with the lack of step-by-step instructions ( if you're one of these people , I would encourage you try tracing instead - - you'll achieve the same result ) . More experienced artists would do better to check out Tadashi Ozawa's ' How to Draw Anime Game Characters ' . It's hard to find , but worth the effort .
051 4 This was a decent help with progressing ability for average artist's . It did not however have the step by step format that the title would suggest . It was useful to me , but there are better manga how-to books .
052 4 I was very disappointed in this book .
The drawings in this book are very American-anime looking . They have large eyes , small noses and the general idea , but the influence over it is just too American to fully convey the Japanese style . Also , the stunning colors that are used in Japanese animation are lacking from the colored images in the book . They are very block and , well , American-anime looking . They attempt to describe different Japanese-character personalities as well and , in my opinion , do so quite poorly . Anime characters usually have little quirks about them that make them unique and lovable , and this book makes them appear very one-sided . It even describes distinctly American personalities that are rare in actual anime .
If one is searching for this type of book , I would recommend searching a bit harder for Japanese imported books . They would be much more helpful if anime is what you're aiming for .
053 4 Well . . . it was a pretty good book , but it's way to european . Like , half the pictures in it were really anime . Most of it was just . . . amercian and NOT japanese at all . I mean , it wasn'y totally bad , it had SOME helpful tips , but it wasn't really anime or manga .
054 4 I think that anyone interested in Manga that cannot afford the How to Draw Manga series should get this . It even helped me , someone who has been drawing manga for a little while .
055 4 I don't know if Hart is an afficianado of Manga , or whether he simply saw the opportunity to add to his library of ( mostly excellent ) drawing books . However , this book seems to lack a deeper feeling for what makes Manga unique , with little instruction on constructing truly Manga characters and situations .
The art throughout is done by excellent artists , with the stunning Colleen Doran providing quite a few illustrations . But somehow , a professional publishing house has made the most amateurish job of printing the art , with lots of jaggies from scanning at too low a resolution ( or forgetting to include the high-resolution files when sending the book to the printer ) . Quite frankly , this book would rank higher without this problem , and I'm guessing that they'll fix it on the second printing . But scrapping a full-color book on good paper obviously was too expensive for the publishers , so the people who rush out to buy this will get an inferior product .
Many of the examples are simply full page drawings that aren't terribly instructional . A very small section on constructing faces doesn't cover the full range found in Manga . Discussions of machines and such are also a bit limited . Frankly , more instructional pages and fewer pin-ups would have benefitted the work .
The book also claims to be the only comprehensive guide to the style in English , which is far from true . You may have to hunt , but you'll learn a lot more from Tadashi Ozawa's How to Draw Anime and Game Characters series , with much better instruction on drawing the different types of characters found in this unique form . Volumes 1 - 3 of Graphics-sha's How to Draw Manga series are also a better guide , though each costs as much as this book .
Had it not been for the printing problems , this might have gotten a 3 star rating if you're looking for a kid's book . If you're serious about the form , hunt down the better guides .
056 4 Christopher Hart has put out several excellent books for beginners and the intermidate cartoon / comicbook artists . I especially liked his ones on Anatomy and Good Looking ComicBook Women . This book is no different in the skill in which he displays this new style . However , whoever put together the format and pictures for this edition should be shot . . . or at the very least fired . An investment in Adobe's Streamline would have atleast been helpful . Instead all of Christopher Heart's excellent work and fantastic graphical display of style were ruined by what appears to be 24 DPI graphics or worse in some places . And this is not consistant throughout the book . On the merit of Chris Hart's work alone I would give it a 5 , his artistic skill is without a doubt excellent , however the format it was presented in gained it a 1 . . . . . . so I guess a 3 is the best I can hope to offer it in the way of rating .
057 4 I agree with a lot reviewers who say that this is not best on the subject , for instance this book speaks to you as you already know how to draw well , it just tells you how to change the features an make them look manga-like , but some drawings are not even manga-like ! I compared the drawings of this one with the ones on How to Draw Anime Basics for Begginers and Beyond and the Manga Mania drawings would be in the Begginers class with a lot of the same mistakes .
Those were the low points , which fortunately were on beginning of the book , the mecha section is nice , as the camera angles treat and the theory of the comic style , as I said this book is made for those with experience with American comic drawing who want to be introduced in the Manga style , this could help them but in my humble opinion the are better books for that .
061 4 I'm one of the people Christopher Hart talks about in his book who would be less of an oddity in Japan . I commute to Wall Street and most of the time I am reading Manga rather than the Wall Street Journal . I love this art form and now I know a little but more of why I do !
062 4 This book is a must have not just for Manga enthusiasts , but for anyone wanting to explore the realm of illustrating characters with powerful expressions , postures , and personalities . Anyone who loves drawing or would love to get into drawing should check this out as it has easy-to-understand techniques and tips for making everything from cutesy sweet characters to sinister and deadly villains .
063 4 This book is great ! It tells you so much information about things you should know if you wanna make some manga ! This book REALLY improved my manga drawings ! My drawings looked like . . . , and after I read this book , I got a better understanding of manga .
The only bad thing in this book is that it couldv'e been more step-by-step . Most things only have 3 - 4 steps ! But even so , I greatly appreciated this book !
At first I was a little skeptical about this book , because it was from an American guy . Chris Hart may not be Rumiko Takahashi , but he is really skilled in drawing !
I think that you should get this book !
064 4 Though from what I've seen of Christopher Hart he is o.k . Though when it comes to manga . . . . he is a bit too western style . I got this as a gift and after looking through I was disappointed . I mean he hardly explained anything ! Though it is all right if you want to see anime not draw it , but for me some pictures had a mix of too much western style in it.If you have the money can't find Official books buy it otherwise stay away .
065 4 This book is a must-have for any manga artist , whether a beginner or pro . The only thing not-so-great about it was that the eyes weren't explained quite enough . But it is otherwise really amazing , and covers everyhting from elves to Shojo and Shonen manga to samauri drawing and drawing dragons and robots .
066 4 This is a great book that covers everything the human figure to dragons . This book is a great reference for beginners as well as old pros !
067 4 I got this book for my brother for a christmas present and it's great . The art mey be done by an american and it mey not look all like anime but is close enough ! It shows you how to draw characters , shading , perspective , etc . It even gives examples of teh different between Western style comics and Japanese style . A must get book for novices ! = )
068 4 I think this book is fantastic with its unique practice characters . Many begining artists will love learning how to be a japaneze comic book maker . remember this ; no one can out beat a manga artist .
069 4 Wow ! this book is so helpful ! ! I am a college student and I am studying art and I found this book to be a great stepping stone in learning Manga ( FYI Japanese style comic book art is called manga . ) This book is designed to help the western artist learn the differences between Japanese comics and ours so you can add their style to your art . That has been done by many , companies cough * * Disney * * cough .
Anyways this book gives great instruction on folds , shade and diferent media ( robots , cars ect . ) I like this book most though because it is made by western writers and artists , so it looks a little bit like western comics , ( hey don't worry it's much easier read that way : ) But it is much easier to learn the Japanese style and then move on to more advanced Manga books because of it . BUT ! ! DO NOT forget this book is intended for people with some art experence so if your looking to learn the very basics on drawing get another book , practice with that , then get this one . But trust me this book is really fun and worth your time : )
070 4 This is a good manga book for beginner artists . Nice pictures and cool robot section .
071 4 A very helpful book for manga beginners . Hart explains the exagerrated characteristics of the style very clearly . I moved ahead quite nicely with this book . There were some things that I had hoped to be more in-depth , though . But if you are a beginner , desperate or not , for help , consider Manga Mania .
073 4 This book is great for learning the basics and some more advanced tecniques in the art of manga . If you are a biginer or advanced you should pick this one up . He shows yoou how to draw characters , robots , cars , elves , how to make your drawing look more dramatic , has an iterview with a important worker at Viz Comics , and even a japanese phrase sectin that helps yo learn what to say . This is a great book.And it really healped me .
074 4 This is my children's first volume of a manga . After learning with Hart's cartooning for beginners we went for the next level . . . that was no mistake . The book is less then two month in our household and has food , drink and ink stains all over it . It has been utilized by many of our teen friends and has become extremely popular in their household . From basic to not so basic , it illustrates the drawing techniques at different sences . Great choice for anyone from 10 to 100 who truly enjoys anim .
075 4 This book is cool , but it helps if you have drawn alittle manga before . I love to draw pokemon manga and this book is just inspiring . Love all of the drawings . The colors are fine , it doesent matter anyway . The best thing about this book is that its so big and i could look at it for hours . Even if your just a beginer you should still check it out .
076 4 This book is good for almost anyone who likes to draw , especially manga or anime . It goes over several areas in drawing manga , but not in detail . It showed me a lot I didn't know , but it didn't really improve my skill . This book is mostly for beginners .
077 4 First of all , this is a great book , but if you're a beginner you won't find much on how to draw what's staring you in your face . If you're just beginning I would reccomend How To Draw Manga by Katy Coope.It was my first manga book and I learned a lot from it.One critisisim I have for Hart's book is that it doesn't include much on how to draw the hands and feet ( yes it does include a little of ' how to draw ' ) . Otherwise this is a great book if you have a little experience .
078 4 . . .
Well I have to say that this is my first manga book , and this book has helped me out alot . I seem to like their elf / scienceficion / fantasy / dragon section , and their tips at the back of the book . What I don't like is that it doesn't have much on hands . I hate how they inked the picutes , and could hardly see their eyes on the ones they inked . Other wise it was great . I would recomend a book that has more detail . This book still hasn't helped me with drawing folds . . . .
079 4 Most of the Reviews are close to the mark . What I didn't like was a lack of step by step Drawing instructions ( Which , to be honest , is missing in a lot of how to draw magna style books ) . What I did like is that Hart covered a wide range of genres and presents what it is that makes magna manga . Why three stars ? While It's good solid book , I would have like more tutorials , IMHO .
080 4 I think that anyone who cannot afford the How to Draw Manga series should get this if they want to draw manga . It even helped me , someone who has been drawing manga for a few months now .
081 4 Well this book isn't really that good I just got it to have something to laugh at when I compare it to my How to draw manga volume 1 , How to draw manga volume 2 , How to draw manga volume 3 , How to draw manga pretty gal , How to draw manga Bishoujo Around the World , and Techniques for Drawing Female Manga Character . If you compare the author of those books to this [ author ] , Hikaru Hayashi will embarrass him . So don't waste your money on this book , buy a How to Draw Manga . . book . If your are a beginner I prefer you get How to Draw Manga Vol . 1 - 3 , If your actually skilled and can draw then you should have no problems with the other manga books , but don't get this book .
082 4 Compelling and helpful . Once you pick it up , you wont want to put it down . This book comes complete with a How to section for : Basics , Body Anotomy , Eyes , Hair , Kids , Teens , Creatures / Pets , Elves , Robots , Mutants , Sameri , Fairies , Bad / Good guys , Dragons and more !
Great book for all ages , If your a beginner or long time artist , no matter the genre you fancy , this will help . It gives complete details and step by step illistrations that will make you want to draw everytime you read it . Also helps with : Shadowing , Clothing , Settings , etc . etc . etc .
With Western and Manga outlooks , also a section in the back of job descriptions if you want to be cartoonist .
I got this book for christmas after begging for it when I read the other reviews , hope this is helpful and all expectations are met . This book met mine and suprised me with even more . Very Informative , highly Suggested , in my opinion , fully deserves its 5 stars .
083 4 Christopher Hart personally asked me to write an reveiw for this book , so here it goes . This book is worth the 20 bucks , and a little bit more . I am actully improving my art skills because of this book ( and I'm also taking art lessons ) . This is actully the first Hot to book I bought for my self . It gives you tons of tips on what goes where . I did'nt like it when they did'nt give enough detail on how to draw . But I guess that It's all about attitude section sorta explained it . Overveiw : i love this book and I'll never leave home without it .
084 4 My little brother took this book out of his high school library for me , and now I plan to purchase it , as I found it an invaluable resource for figure drawing , Manga technique , and especially storytelling technique .
First off , this book is basically a primer for beginners , dealing with Americanized Manga . If you are looking for a book for experts , or one that really delves deep into what the anime / manga die-hard snobs call true manga ( whatever that is supposed to mean - - while there are certain stylistic differences between your epic anime or manga fantasy Japanese original and your Pokemon , the same basic techniques are employed to varying degrees , depending upon the genre ) , then this is not that book .
This book IS :
1 . ) A good primer on figure drawing . Not great , but very good . I already knew a little bit about figure drawing before I started this book , but since having worked with it , my figure drawing skills have improved dramatically .
2 . ) A good primer on techniques used in Manga . I personally found the sections on eyes and expression very helpful . Because Hart doesn't spell it out for you all the time , sometimes when reading this book you have to interpret the drawing samples in tandem with Hart's instruction to figure it out on your own .
3 . ) An EXCELLENT book about storytelling . Having studied film and theatre ( and thus storytelling theory ) extensively , this book is highly valuable in that regard . It offers information on techniques for how to visually tell your story effectively , particularly in the sections about comic book panels . For this reason , I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in film or theatre , even if they have no interest in drawing .
This book also offers at the end a section about making it as a manga artist . I found this section rather blah and unhelpful , though it would be informative and somewhat helpful for young people ( i.e . , children and teens ) .
This book has several minor weakness in its structure and style , but nothing worth going into detail about in this limited space , so long as you don't take the style in which the book is constructed too seriously ( come on - - Drop-Dead Manga Babes ? ? ? Of COURSE you're not supposed to take the style of the book seriously ! ) . Overall , this is an excellent resource for anyone looking to improve their figure drawing skills ( even if not manga ) , the beginning / novice manga artist , and anyone who would like to learn more about storytelling technique .
I would not necessarily recommend this for anyone who is a more advanced manga artist .
085 4 I have used Chris Hart's previous work in a big way . . . and his latest Manga Mania is as good ( and useful ) as anything he has done in the past . He proves his versatility here and if you are looking to do any drawing in the category of Japanese comics , this book is one you have to have in your tool kit .
086 4 This is a great book , and sadly I don't own it ( yet ) . Anyway , even though I don't own it , I have been able to use it thanks to my manga-drawing fans . I think that it's a great book for beginners by giving you basics for many things that are very helpful . It even shows you in the back some information that is very useful if you want to become a mangaka . I think this is a great book for beginners , and probably wouldn't really benifit someone who is an advance manga drawer .
088 4 It is a good book , for the people who wish to learn to draw Manga , brings very basic concepts and technical , for the small ones it is a recommendable book to introduce them to great world of the Manga sketcher , also for which never it has drawn with this book can begin within the drawing , the only thing is practice and more practice to be a good sketcher , the interesting thing that apara brings this book is the approach to draw the attitude of the personage , as simple outlines can turn it hero or anti-hero , has the basic concepts of the fabric drawing and dynamics of clothes , as well as the basic thing for to draw poses , eyes , expreciones and perspective , if they wish to give a book of drawing for nascent I recommend this book to them .
072 4 I'm not an Otaku . I'm not some obssesed drooling anime fangirl . But I AM an anime fan AND an artist who takes their work seriously . I don't know what all those other people are talking about with this book . It's very well done .
No it doesn't take you through complete anime stylings . In fact Christopher Hart seems very biased in this book . Especially towards the end in the section where he compares anime and western stle comicking . He PURPOSELY draws western style anime like [ stuff ] . It's kinda funny .
But in all seriousness . No this is not a book for those who want to be complete anime artist . BUT he does make some good points in this book . He gives a good explaination of the genres that exist ( although not good drawing samples ) and will help you with your ideas if you plan on starting you own little comic .
That's why this book is worth it . IF YOUR STARTING YOUR ANIME BASED COMIC ! It'll get you on the right track I think . It helped me . Then again my style IS American and Japanese art combined . I love both styles equally .
Don't knock this book . If your just starting out in anime it's the book that's REALLY help shape you into a manga artist . From there STOP with his little mania series . After that they aren't worth SPIT . Go into the How to draw Manga series after this title . It makes an awesome primer !
011 4 This is a really good book with only one flaw , ( which I'll tell you in a second ) . It has hundreds of very good drawings , some which are in full color . It has examples from all different kinds of anime comics , but they're missing one thing . . . . . .
HOW TO DRAW THE DARN THING ! ! ! ! ! ! ! This book has like 2 step by step instructions in the entire book . I recommend this book to experts and people who just want to look at a book . Not a beginner like me .
021 4 Manga Mania was recommoned to me by a firend who I've alawys considered a good artist . She told me that this book would really help me skills , so I bought it .
I should have saved the [ $ ] . The author spends the first chapter comparing manga to western comics . It seems the Mr . Hart finds manga much better than western comics . What this has to do with drawing manga , I don't know . Why he wastes that chapter talking about that is beyond me .
And then there is the acutal chapters . The only one I benfited from was about magical creatures . Everything else was fluff and most of the drawings were not manga . For someone who feels manga is better than western drawings , his look an awful lot like them . Not only that , the coloring in this book was also terrible and did not enhance the drawing in anyway .
All in all , Mr . Hart does have some talent for drawing , but if you are looking for a book about drawing MANGA , leave this one on the shelf .
022 4 After buying this book , I was mildly amused by his methods . . . !
His style is poor compared to what I would call true MANGA ,
and it's very VERY western-styled . . .
I like his eye-section though , and he's succeded in taking
a few basics , but he's far , VERY far from being anywhere near
proffesional ! I'm so lucky to be able to learn to draw , from what
I see , and not tutorials , because this book has almost none .
I would NOT recommend buying the How To Draw Manga books instead
though , from what I've seen from them , they're too expensive
and not very good either at teaching you to draw , they need
far more examples , like MANGA-MANIA has , so a mix between
the two would be welcome .
058 4 This review is from :
Manga Mania : How to Draw Japanese Comics ( Paperback )
MY SON LOVES THESE BOOKS . THEY GIVE HIM IDEAS HE NEVER THOUGHT OF . HE HAS TO TURN IN A SKETCH FROM HOME EVERY WEEK TO HIS ART TEACHER . THE BOOK MAKES IT EASIER FOR HIM TO FIND SOMETHING TO DRAW . WE ARE VERY PLEASED ! !
